Dragonball Super manga Volume 1 (Chapter 9)

By Mark Rodriguez

The tournament between Universe 6 and 7 begins and the first fight is between Goku and Botamo. Botamo is incredibly fast, but Goku seems to be even faster. However, Champa, the Destroyer God from Universe 6 says that Botamo is just getting started. 

Chapter 9- Goku VS Botamo

The fight continues and Goku grabs one of Botamo's elastic arms and punches the heck out of him. Botamo literally bounces back, and he seems able to resist all of Goku's attacks. Goku tries to blast him with a KameHame Ha, and it doesn't work. Piccolo and Vegeta note that Goku can't cause any damage to him and will eventually tire out. Krillin notes that Goku hasn't even turned Super Saiyan yet, and Vegeta says it might not be enough.

Goku then gets an idea. He pushes Botamo onto his back and grabs him by the legs. He then drags him across the ring. Botamo tries to blast him, but the Saiyan dodges the attacks and tosses him out of the ring.

The next opponent is Frost, who looks like Freeza. Everyone is surprised that Frost acts gentlemanly towards Goku. As the fight begins, Goku and Frost warp all over the place, impressing everyone with their speed and power.

Goku tells Frost he notices that he's holding back and trying to see what he's capable of before transforming. He tells him he might as well transform into his final form now or he might lose before he has a chance to do so. Frost does so and transforms to a form very similar to Freeza's third transformation. Piccolo says that form brings back bad memories, since Freeza nearly killed him in that form back then. Goku is confused by this form and Krillin comments that Goku wasn't there to see Freeza's other forms. By the time Goku had arrived to face Freeza during the Namek saga, Freeza was already in his final form.

Frost attacks Goku with his new form and Universe 6 thinks that Goku is being overwhelmed. However, the Saiyan was merely warming up and notices that Frost is saving his energy for later fights. Goku turns Super Saiyan and tells him if he doesn't go all out now, he might just finish the fight here. As Goku flies in to attack, Frost sees he has no choice but to transform into his final form, which matches Freeza's final form.

The bonus gag page shows Krillin feeling thankful that Frost didn't transform into Freeza's second form. I don't blame him, that's still one of the hardest parts to watch in the original Dragonball Z anime. 

My thoughts-

Pretty fun chapter as we see Goku deal with Botamo. Just like the anime, Goku eventually figured out that if he can't defeat Botamo in a straight up fight, he can at least throw him out of the ring. 

Frost is an interesting character. Obviously we know the truth now, but back then the concept of a member of Freeza's race being seen as a hero didn't seem too out there, considering that the Saiyans of Universe 6 are also a lot more peaceful than the ones we're used to. 

It was cool to see Frost go through all of his forms, and it was also a good reminder that Goku never got to see any of Freeza's previous forms. I think Goku saw Freeza's first form for a few seconds in the Resurrection F arc before he transformed into his more familiar form right away. 

Seeing Frost's third form also brought back memories, since we've only seen Freeza use it once and for a very short time. It's interesting how Freeza's transformations work backwards. They're not used to get more powerful but to further contain his true power. The Golden Freeza form was the first form he used that actually had him exceed his full power. 

This is the last chapter of volume 1 of the Dragonball Super manga. There was also an extra mini-comic that takes sometime before Battle of Gods. Kaioh Sama got Moori, the Elder from Planet Namek in charge of the Namekian Dragonballs to wish back Kaioh's planet that was destroyed when Cell exploded. He wanted the planet to be bigger than before. Goku suddenly pops in and says that would mess with his training and wishes for the planet to be brought back exactly as it was before. He then warps away so he can get back to his farming. Geez Goku, what a jerk.